Alvíssmál

Alvíssmál (Alv.) ‘The Sayings of Alvíss’ is found complete in R (fol. 19v–20r) and derivative paper manuscripts. Variant versions of stt. 20 and 30 appear in SnESkáld, manuscripts of which variously call the poem Alvíssmál, Ǫlvíssmál and Alsvinnsmál (Alsvinnr ‘All Wise’ or Alsviðr ‘All Swift’). This suggests that it may have existed in some form before c. 1220–41.

The poem’s metre is almost entirely ljóðaháttr, the usual choice for dialogue poems. The sole exception is the second half of the final stanza, which is in galdralag.

Alv. is the last poem—or, arguably, poetic drama—in R’s mythological group. It may owe its position beside Vkv. to their shared focus on two lesser kinds of supernatural being: respectively, the elf, represented by Vǫlundr, and the dwarf, represented by Alvíss. Alv.’s placement after Vkv. perhaps reflects a compiler’s perception of narrative and stylistic similarities between Þrk. and Vkv., but it separates Alv. from the other poems that either focus on Þórr or give him a prominent role (Hrbl., Hym., Ls. and Þrk.) and from the comparable wisdom poems at the start of R (Vsp., Háv., Vm. and Grm.).

Alv. is comparable to Vsp., BDr. and Hdl. in recounting a god’s questioning of an otherworldly being. The poem’s closest Eddic correspondences, however, are with the late bridal-quest poem Fj. (part of Svipdagsmál), the wisdom contest Vm. (to which Alv. might be indebted), and the wisdom monologue Grm. Vm., Grm. and Alv. set their wisdom passages in a simple framing narrative that culminates in the death of the god’s giant or giant-like adversary: respectively, the giant Vafþrúðnir, King Geirrǫðr (namesake of a famous giant) and the giantish dwarf Alvíss. In Vm. and Grm. the god is Óðinn, not Þórr, but although Alv.’s Þórr does not display Óðinn’s learning, he resembles Óðinn in his use of trickery, rather than brute force, to defeat his opponent. Perhaps it is surprise at the unusualness of being questioned by Þórr—and so of having the opportunity to outsmart him—that fatally distracts Alvíss.

Indeed, why Þórr does not simply slay Alvíss with his hammer is puzzling, because he shows no such restraint elsewhere. Contrast, for example, his swift slaying—in violation of sworn oaths—of the giant employed to rebuild the gods’ defensive wall after the Æsir-Vanir war (Vsp. H 22); also his kicking of the dwarf Litr onto Baldr’s funeral pyre in SnEGylf (49, p. 46). Perhaps the difference this time is that Þórr does not wish to leave evidence of his opposition (according to one possible interpretation) to Óðinn’s promise to marry his foster-daughter(?) to Alvíss. Consequently, Alvíss has to die by non-violent means, preferably—to validate Þórr’s disapproval—through his own foolishness. And foolish is how Alvíss appears at the last; despite being a veritable thesaurus, the ‘all-wise’ dwarf lacks wisdom. He might know every name and ǫll ... rǫk fira ‘all the history of living beings’, but his own ‘destiny/doom’ (another sense of rǫk) takes him by surprise. In this respect we may compare Vafþrúðnir, although it is doubtful whether, given the chance, Alvíss would have matched that giant’s dignified resignation in defeat.

Alvíss’s role in the poem reinforces his giantish associations. In Vsp., Þrk. and elsewhere, giants desire goddesses—generally Freyja, but also sometimes Þórr’s wife Sif and Íðunn (for her apples). They devise various means to obtain them—some legitimate and contractual, some not—but are thwarted, usually by Þórr’s swinging hammer. In Alv. the object of desire could well be Þórr’s foster-daughter (or at least a young female in his care), though she herself is not necessarily divine. This story is otherwise unknown, but a similar one seems to have existed, again involving a giant. According to a kenning in an early skaldic verse attributed to Bragi Boddason and preserved in SnESkáld (I, 49, p. 69), the giant Hrungnir is the Þrúðar þjófr ‘thief of Þrúðr’, Þrúðr being Þórr’s only known daughter.

Although thwarted attempts to marry or abduct goddesses seem to have been a staple topic of Norse myth, Alv. (if correctly associated with them) is the only instance to concern a dwarf. In early Norse sources, dwarves tend to keep to themselves. Unlike the giants, but like the elves, there is no mention of male and female dwarves, let alone of dwarf marriages. Furthermore, dwarves do not otherwise seek the gods. Rather the gods seek them to benefit from their skill as smiths; among their creations are Óðinn’s spear, Þórr’s hammer, Freyr’s ship and Sif’s golden hair. Similarly, in late legendary-heroic sagas, heroes seek dwarves and force them to forge splendid weapons. Only the first chapter of the fourteenth-century Sǫrla þáttr ‘Tale of Sǫrli’ tells of sex between dwarves and a goddess; Freyja liked the look of a necklace they were making, they liked the look of her, and she duly provided sex as payment.

If Alvíss’s relations with the gods are unusual for a dwarf, other aspects of his nature are easier to parallel. Dwarf-names such as Dáinn ‘Dead One’ and Náinn ‘Corpse-Like One’ support Þórr’s suspicions about Alvíss’s association with the dead (Alv. 2). That dwarves know things is confirmed by dwarf-names such as Fjǫlsviðr ‘Very Wise One’ and Vitr ‘Wise One’, the dwarf Þjóðreyrir’s chanting in Hav. 160, and dwarves’ description as vísir ‘wise ones’ in Vsp. 50. Alvíss’s home under a stone finds correspondence in, for example, chapter 12 of Ynglinga saga and in Vsp. 50. And although it is merely a likelihood that Alvíss turns to stone at dawn (a fate that elsewhere befalls rock-dwelling giants and trolls), the sun’s description as ‘Dvalinn’s toy’ in Alv. 16 (see note 44), the reference to a dagskjarr ‘day-shy’ dwarf in st. 2 of the poem Ynglingatal ‘Tally of the Ynglings’ in Ynglinga saga, and the dwarf-name Sólblindi ‘Sun-Blind/Hidden One’ suggest that he was not the only one of his kind to be harmed or destroyed by daylight.

Having said that Alv.’s wisdom dialogue is comparable to that of Vm. (it also bears comparison with the questioning of suitors in folk-tales), Alvíss’s wisdom is primarily linguistic, rather than mythological. For Alv. may appear to be, as Calvert Watkins has noted, essentially a ‘quite artificial literary showpiece and tour de force,’ and effectively a ‘versified “synonomy”’.1 Some have thought its purpose merely virtuosic, but it might also have been intended, to some extent, as an aide-mémoire for poets—or, given that most of its poetic synonyms (heiti) are rare in poetry, at least as a reference for them. If so, Alv. shares a purpose with Snorri’s Prose Edda, for which it is, as noted above, a direct source. Alv. is undoubtedly, like Eddic poems such as Vsp. (Dvergatal section) and Grm., akin to versified þulur ‘name-lists’ extant from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, whether as a source or a derivative.

In another regard, Alv.’s assignment of different words to different kinds of being is of interest because it manifests an ancient Indo-European notion also reflected in, for example, Homer’s Iliad, the Sanskrit Satapatha-Brahmana and a medieval Irish treatise on grammar and poetics called Auraicept na n-Éces ‘The Scholar’s Primer’. At root, the notion is thought to be of a binary opposition between the language of humans (ordinary, semantically ‘unmarked’ words) and that of gods (less common, semantically ‘marked’ words). Accordingly, words assigned to humans in Alv. are still in everyday use in Norwegian, whereas those assigned to the divine powers tend to be, as Lennart Moberg has observed, ‘higher up the stylistic scale ... poetic circumlocutions of various types’; unfortunately, these nuances are lost in translation to English.

The Alv. poet refines this opposition by assigning—perhaps sometimes inventing—words and expressions according to the nature of each being and as far as the alliterative constraints of his metre and strictly formulaic approach allow. In so doing, he indirectly imparts mythological meaning. Thus, the translations of the elves’ words suggest a cheerful disposition and an appreciation of nature’s beauty: ‘growing’, ‘fair roof’, ‘fair wheel’, ‘day-soother’, ‘fair limb’, and ‘sleep-joy’. By contrast, the giants’ words have a grimmer, more literal-minded and utilitarian bent: ‘greenish’, ‘up-world’, ‘hurrier’, ‘sultry’, ‘eel-home’, ‘greedy’, ‘fuel’, ‘unlight’, and ‘food.’ The gods’ words appear more solemn, poetic or archaic.

The concept of a different world or home (heimr) for each kindred probably corresponds, broadly at least, to the nine worlds of Vsp. 2. From Alv. we might deduce (with place-names supplied from other sources), one world each for humans (Miðgarðr), Æsir (Ásgarðr), Vanir (Vanaheimr), elves (Álfheimr), giants (Jǫtunheim(a)r), dwarves (the earth) and the dead (Hel). Systematizers might want to add two more to make nine—arguably a world each for the mysterious uppregin ‘powers above’ of Alv. 10 and the halir ‘heroes’ of Alv. 28, but such an approach is often inappropriate for beliefs that were doubtless subject to change.

Synopsis

Further Reading

Acker, P., ‘Dwarf-Lore in Alvíssmál’, in P. Acker and C. Larrington, ed., The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 213–27, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203357736-19  

Ármann Jakobsson, ‘The Hole: Problems in Medieval Dwarfology’, Arv 61 (2005), 53–76.

Barreiro, S., ‘Dvergar and the Dead’, Brathair 8 (2008), 3–16.

Battles, P., ‘Dwarfs in Germanic Literature: Deutsche Mythologie or Grimm’s Myths?’, in T. Shippey, ed., The Shadow-Walkers: Jacob Grimm’s Mythology of the Monstrous (Turnhout: Brepols, 2005), pp. 29–82.

Boor, H. de, ‘Der Zwerg in Skandinavien’, in Festschrift für Eugen Mogk zum 70. Geburtstag 19 Juli 1924 (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1924), pp. 536–81.

Clunies Ross, M., ‘Þórr’s Honour’, in H. Uecker, ed., Studien zum Altgermanischen: Festschrift für Heinrich Beck (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1994), pp. 48–76.

Clunies Ross, M., Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, 2 vols. (Odense: Odense University Press, 1994–98).

Frog, ‘Alvíssmál and Orality I: Formula, Alliteration and Categories of Mythic Being’, ANF 126 (2012), 17–71.

Garmonsway, G. N., and J. Simpson, Beowulf and its Analogues (London: Dent, 1968) [translates the relevant part of Sǫrla þáttr].

Gunnell, T., The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia (Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1995).

Jónsson, G., ed., Fornaldarsögur norðurlanda, 4 vols. (Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950), I [includes Sǫrla þáttr].

Klingenberg, H., ‘Alvíssmál: Das Lied vom überweisen Zwerg’, Germanische-romanische Monatsschrift 48 (1967), 113–42.

Klingenberg, H., ‘Types of Eddic Mythological Poetry’, in R. J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason, ed., Edda: A Collection of Essays (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1983), pp. 134–64.

Liberman, A., ‘What Happened to Female Dwarfs?’, in R. Simek and W. Heizmann, ed., Mythological Women: Studies in Memory of Lotte Motz (1922–1997) (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2002), pp. 257–63.

Lindow, J., ‘Poetry, Dwarfs, and Gods: Understanding Alvíssmál’, in J. Quinn, K. Heslop and T. Wills, ed., Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse World: Essays in Honour of Margaret Clunies Ross (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 285–303, https://doi.org/10.1484/m.tcne-eb.3.4078

Mayburd, M., ‘Between a Rock and a Soft Place: The Materiality of Old Norse Dwarves and Paranormal Ecologies in Fornaldarsögur’, in D. Sävborg and K. Bek-Pedersen, ed., Supernatural Encounters in Old Norse Literature and Tradition (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018), pp. 189–214.

McKinnell, J., ‘Useless Knowledge? The Paradox of Alvíssmál’, Saga-Book 41 (2017), 79–96, https://doi.org/10.1484/m.bbl-eb.5.116086  

Meissner, R., ‘Die Sprache der Götter, Riesen und Zwerge in den Alvíssmál’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 61 (1924), 128–40.

Moberg, L., ‘The Languages of Alvíssmál’, Saga-Book 18 (1973), 299–323.

Motz, L., The Wise One of the Mountain: Form, Function and Significance of the Subterranean Smith. A Study in Folklore (Göppingen: Kümmerle, 1983).

Von See, K., B. La Farge, E. Picard and K. Schulz, Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda, Bd. 3: Götterlieder (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2000).

Watkins, C., ‘Language of Gods and Language of Men: Remarks on Some Indo-European Metalinguistic Traditions’, in J. Puhvel, ed., Myth and Law among the Indo-Europeans: Studies in Indo-European Comparative Mythology (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1970), pp. 1–17.

Watkins, C., How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

Alvíssmál

1. ‘Bekki breiða   nú skal brúðr með mér,

heim í sinni snúask;

hratat um mægi   mun hverjum þikkja,

heima skalat hvíld nema!’

2. ‘Hvat er þat fira?   Hví ertu svá fǫlr um nasar?

Vartu í nótt með ná?

Þursa líki   þikki mér á þér vera,

ertattu til brúðar borinn!’

3. ‘Alvíss ek heiti,   bý ek fyr jǫrð neðan,

á ek undir steini stað;

vagna vers   ek em á vit kominn,

bregði engi fǫstu heiti fira!’

4. ‘Ek mun bregða,   þvíat ek brúðar á

flest um ráð sem faðir;

varka ek heima,   þá er þér heitit var,

at sá einn er gjafi er með goðum.’

5. ‘Hvat er þat rekka,   er í ráðum telsk

fljóðs ins fagrglóa?

Fjarrafleina   þik munu fáir kunna —

hverr hefir þik baugum borit?’

6. ‘Vingþórr ek heiti   — ek hefi víða ratat —

sonr em ek Síðgrana;

at ósátt minni   skaltu þat it unga man hafa

ok þat gjaforð geta.’

7. ‘Sáttir þínar   er ek vil snemma hafa,

ok þat gjaforð geta;

eiga vilja,   heldr en án vera,

þat it mjallhvíta man.’

8. ‘Meyjar ástum   muna þér verða,

vísi gestr, of varit,

ef þú ór heimi kant   hverjum at segja

allt þat er ek vil vita.

9. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sú jǫrð heitir,   er liggr fyr alda sonum,

heimi hverjum í.’

10. ‘Jǫrð heitir með mǫnnum,   en með Ásum fold,

kalla vega Vanir,

ígrœn jǫtnar,   álfar gróandi,

kalla aur uppregin.’

11. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sá himinn heitir,   inn Hymi kendi,

heimi hverjum í.’

12. ‘Himinn heitir með mǫnnum,   en hlýrnir með goðum,

kalla vindofni Vanir,

uppheim jǫtnar,   álfar fagrarræfr,

dvergar drjúpan sal.’

13. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hversu máni heitir,   sá er menn sjá,

heimi hverjum í.’

14. ‘Máni heitir með mǫnnum,   en mýlinn með goðum,

kalla hverfanda hvél Helju í,

skyndi jǫtnar,   en skin dvergar,

kalla álfar ártala.’

15. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sú sól heitir,   er sjá alda synir,

heimi hverjum í.’

16. ‘Sól heitir með mǫnnum,   en sunna með goðum,

kalla dvergar Dvalins leika,

eygló jǫtnar,   álfar fagrahvél,

alskír Ása synir.’

17. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé þau ský heita,   er skúrum blandask,

heimi hverjum í.’

18. ‘Ský heita með mǫnnum,   en skúrván með goðum,

kalla vindflot Vanir,

úrván jǫtnar,   álfar veðrmegin,

kalla í Helju hjálm huliðs.’

19. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sá vindr heitir,   er víðast ferr,

heimi hverjum í.’

20. ‘Vindr heitir með mǫnnum,   en váfuðr með goðum,

kalla gneggjuð ginnregin,

œpi jǫtnar,   álfar dynfara,

kalla í Helju hviðuð.’

21. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alviss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé þat logn heitir,   er liggja skal,

heimi hverjum í.’

22. ‘Logn heitir með mǫnnum,   en lœgi með goðum,

kalla vindslot Vanir,

ofhlý jǫtnar,   álfar dagsefa,

kalla dvergar dags veru.’

23. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sá marr heitir,   er menn róa,

heimi hverjum í.’

24. ‘Sær heitir með mǫnnum,   en sílægja með goðum,

kalla vág Vanir,

álheim jǫtnar,   álfar lagastaf,

kalla dvergar djúpan mar.’

25. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sá eldr heitir,   er brenn fyr alda sonum,

heimi hverjum í.’

26. ‘Eldr heitir með mǫnnum,   en með Ásum funi,

kalla vág Vanir,

frekan jǫtnar,   en forbrenni dvergar,

kalla í Helju hrǫðuð.’

27. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sá viðr heitir,   er vex fyr alda sonum,

heimi hverjum í.’

28. ‘Viðr heitir með mǫnnum,   en vallar fax með goðum,

kalla hlíðþang halir,

eldi jǫtnar,   álfar fagrlima,

kalla vǫnd Vanir.’

29. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé sú nótt heitir,   in Nǫrvi kenda,

heimi hverjum í.’

30. ‘Nótt heitir með mǫnnum,   en njól með goðum,

kalla grímu ginnregin,

óljós jǫtnar,   álfar svefngaman,

kalla dvergar draumnjǫrun.’

31. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé þat sáð heitir,   er sá alda synir,

heimi hverjum í.’

32. ‘Bygg heitir með mǫnnum,   en barr með goðum,

kalla vaxt Vanir,

æti jǫtnar,   álfar lagastaf,

kalla í Helju hnipinn.’

33. ‘Segðu mér þat, Alvíss   — ǫll of rǫk fira

vǫrumk, dvergr, at vitir:

hvé þat ǫl heitir,   er drekka alda synir,

heimi hverjum í.’

34. ‘Ǫl heitir með mǫnnum,   en með Ásum bjórr,

kalla veig Vanir,

hreinalǫg jǫtnar,   en í Helju mjǫð,

kalla sumbl Suttungs synir.’

35. ‘Í einu brjósti   ek sák aldregi

fleiri forna stafi!

Miklum tálum   ek kveð tældan þik:

uppi ertu, dvergr, um dagaðr,

nú skínn sól í sali!’

The Sayings of Alvíss

1. ‘Now shall a bride cover² the benches with me,³

come home in my company;

it’ll seem to everyone a hurried engagement,⁴

she shan’t take her leisure at home!’⁵

2. ‘What kind of living thing is that? Why are you so livid around the nose?

Were you with a corpse last night?⁶

There seems to me to be the likeness of giants in you,⁷

you weren’t born for a bride!’

3. ‘I am named Alvíss,8 I live beneath the earth,

I have a homestead under stone;⁹

I’ve come to see the man of carts(?),¹⁰

let no one break people’s firm pledge!’

4. ‘I shall break it, because I have most say

over the bride, like her father;¹¹

I wasn’t at home when she was betrothed to you,

[I being] the only one who is her giver(?) among the gods.’¹²

5. ‘What kind of man are you who claims authority

over the fair-glowing woman?

Few will recognize you, vagrant¹³ —

who has born you to arm-rings?’¹⁴

6. ‘I am named Vingþórr15 — I have wandered widely¹⁶ —

I am Síðgrani’s17 son;

not with my consent shall you have the young maiden

and get that marriage.’¹⁸

7. ‘Your consent is what I soon want to have,

and to make this marriage;

I would rather have, than be without,

that snow-white¹⁹ maiden.’

8. ‘The maiden’s love won’t be withheld

from you, wise guest,²⁰

if you can tell me all that I want to know

from every world.²¹

9. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

what the earth,22 which lies before the sons of men,

is named in each world.’

10. ‘It’s named jǫrð²³ among men, but fold²⁴ among Æsir,

Vanir call it vegar,25

giants ígrœn,²⁶ elves gróandi,²⁷

the powers above²⁸ call it aurr.’²⁹

11. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

what the sky, the one known to Hymir(?),30

is named in each world.’

12. ‘It’s named himinn³¹ among men, but hlýrnir³² among gods,

Vanir call it vindofnir,33

giants uppheimr,³⁴ elves fagrarræfr,³⁵

dwarves drjúpr salr.’³⁶

13. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

is named in each world.’

14. ‘It’s named máni³⁷ among men, but mýlinn³⁸ among gods,

in Hel they call it hverfanda hvél,39

giants skyndir,⁴⁰ and dwarves skin,⁴¹

elves call it ártali.’⁴²

15. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

16. ‘It’s named sól among men, but sunna⁴³ among gods,

dwarves call it Dvalins leiki,44

giants eygló,⁴⁵ elves fagrahvél,⁴⁶

sons of the Æsir47 alskír.’⁴⁸

17. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

18. ‘They’re named ský⁴⁹ among men, but skúrván⁵⁰ among gods,

Vanir call them vindflot;51

giants úrván,⁵² elves veðrmegin,⁵³

in Hel they call them hjálmr huliðs.’54

19. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

20. ‘It’s named vindr⁵⁵ among men, but váfuðr⁵⁶ among gods,

mighty powers⁵⁷ call it gneggjuðr,⁵⁸

giants œpir,⁵⁹ elves dynfari,⁶⁰

in Hel they call it hviðuðr.’61

21. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

what the calm, which shall lie,62

is named in each world.’

22. ‘It’s named logn⁶³ among men, but lœgi⁶⁴ among gods,

Vanir call it vindslot,65

giants ofhlý,⁶⁶ elves dagsefi,⁶⁷

dwarves call it dags vera.’⁶⁸

23. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

24. ‘It’s named sær⁶⁹ among men, but sílægja⁷⁰ among gods,

Vanir call it vágr,71

giants álheimr,⁷² elves lagastafr,⁷³

dwarves call it djúpr marr.’⁷⁴

25. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

26. ‘It’s named eldr⁷⁵ among men, but funi⁷⁶ among Æsir,

Vanir call it vágr,77

giants freki,⁷⁸ and dwarves forbrennir,⁷⁹

in Hel they call it hrǫðuðr.’80

27. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

28. ‘It’s named viðr⁸¹ among men, but vallar fax⁸² by gods,

heroes⁸³ call it hlíðþang,⁸⁴

giants eldi,⁸⁵ elves fagrlimi,⁸⁶

Vanir call it vǫndr.’87

29. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

what the night, the one known to Nǫrr,88

is named in each world.’

30. ‘It’s named nótt⁸⁹ among men, but njól⁹⁰ among gods,

mighty powers⁹¹ call it gríma,⁹²

giants óljós,⁹³ elves svefngaman,⁹⁴

dwarves call it draumnjǫrun.’⁹⁵

31. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

32. ‘It’s named bygg⁹⁶ among men, but barr⁹⁷ among gods,

Vanir call it vaxt,98

giants æti,⁹⁹ elves lagastafr,¹⁰⁰

in Hel they call it hnipinn.’101

33. ‘Tell me this, Alvíss — I expect, dwarf, that you know

what the ale,102 which the sons of men drink,

is named in each world.’

34. ‘It’s named ǫl ¹⁰³ among men, but bjórr¹⁰⁴ by Æsir,

Vanir call it veig,105

giants hreinalǫgr,¹⁰⁶ and in Hel mjǫðr,107

Suttungr’s sons108 call it sumbl.’¹⁰⁹

35. ‘In a single breast I’ve never seen

more ancient staves!¹¹⁰

By great tricks I declare you’ve been duped:

you’re up, dwarf, when it’s dawned,¹¹¹

the sun now shines in the halls!’¹¹²

Textual Apparatus to Alvíssmál